Indian ocean tuna catch smallest in 11 years

Tuna fishermen in the Indian Ocean have landed their smallest catch for 11 years, a report and industry sources said today, with possible explanations ranging from over-fishing to global warming.

"The total catches recorded ... during the first four months of 2007 is estimated at 75,000 tonnes, the lowest catch reported for that period since 1996," the multinational Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) said in a report seen by Reuters on Monday.

"This represents a decrease of 36 percent over the catches reported for the same period of the previous year."

In the past, higher sea surface temperatures blamed on global warming have driven tuna deeper, out of reach of nets. But higher catches over the last four years may also have cut the ocean's yellowfin and skipjack tuna numbers, experts say.

"The bigger question is whether this decline is a consequence of environmental conditions, or whether somehow the catches of the past few years have affected the population levels," IOTC head Alejandro Anganuzzi said by telephone.

"Probably in a year or two we will have all the data for our computer modelling to assess the current situation."

Joel Bruneau, general manager at a tuna processing company owned by Ireland Blyth Limited , said catches had begun to recover since April, when prices for yellowfin tuna in the Seychelles were up 50 percent on the levels of a year earlier.

- Reuters